


Worth the wait

by AsphorFell



Category: Far Cry 5
Genre: Bedtime Stories, Domestic, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Predator/Prey, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-03-27
Packaged: 2019-12-07 05:15:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18230402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsphorFell/pseuds/AsphorFell
Summary: A wolf and a rabbit once fell in love.Miraculously it worked out for the better.





	Worth the wait

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Seedsplease](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Seedsplease).



> I don't own Far Cry 5 or any characters mentioned within- this fic is just that, an interpretation and expansion on what was created by someone else for non profit.

_Once upon a time there was a wolf._

_He was big and strong and dangerous. His coat was red, his eyes were blue, and he was scarred from his years of hunting for prey and outsmarting other, weaker wolves._

_He was feared by all the animals in the forest. They flinched from shadows and sudden noises in the night, all of them fearing to see the wolf's bright blue eyes as he lunged forward to make a meal out of them. They speculated at the size of his teeth, at the sharpness of his claws, at the ferocity of his snarl. His howling was the backbone of nightmares all through the forest._

_This wolf was the protector of his pack; he kept them safe, kept them fed. But even they were scared of him- it was only with his brothers that he found company at ease with him._

_In that forest, there was also a rabbit._

_The rabbit was young and fast and clever. She had many friends in the forest._

_One day the wolf caught her scent and, being hungry, began to pursue her._

_The rabbit kept just out of reach, time and time again, until finally he had her cornered._

_"It's nothing personal," the wolf promised calmly, teeth bared, "it's the way of life- you are prey, and I am to eat you."_

_The rabbit had stared up at him with wide eyes, ears pressed close to her head as she fought against the instinct to stay frozen._

_The wolf pounced and the rabbit got lucky, springing forward and running again, gaining a head start that she kept, managing to get away._

_Well, the wolf wasn't happy that his dinner escaped him, and he found himself hungry and irritated._

_It had been a long time since prey had escaped._

_When the wolf returned to his pack, he said nothing to them and instead found himself buzzing with irritation. Prey wasn't meant to outsmart predator, that wasn't how things worked. The weak were eaten to maintain the strong. That rabbit could have helped feed the pack, gone to pups who needed the nourishment. But instead she lived and served no purpose._

_When he told his brothers about the rabbit, they said "find her and bring her back and we will feast."_

_The next day the wolf went out of his way to be quiet and watchful, tracking the rabbits scent as it darted through the woods and into the open fields and valleys- land that wasn't natural to him, but that didn't stop him. The wolf walked for a long time, growing mangy and thin in his pursuit of the rabbit._

_For a long time, the rabbit didn't know. She found out by accident and luck, when the wind shifted and she caught the scent of the wolf that had tried to eat her so long ago. And so she began to run again, with the help of her friends who would scatter her scent, lay false trails, or else distract the wolf so that she had a few more minutes to run ahead._

_Their game lasted into the winter and the wolf was vicious with hunger and obsession, and the rabbit numb with bone deep exhaustion. She finally collapsed in the mountains, unable to run anymore, standing there on shaking legs; if she were to die then she would die proud._

_"You've lost our game." The wolf challenged, circling her slowly._

_"It wasn't a game, it was survival." Returned the rabbit, thinking quickly._

_"No matter the name, you've lost. I will kill you and bring you to my pack and we will eat." He promised, thinking that it was only fair to tell her._

_"Oh, but you can't eat me," she said calmly, as though telling the weather._

_"Why not?"_

_"Well look at me, wolf! You've run the meat off me- I'm hardly a mouthful anymore, let alone a meal for a wolf or it's pack!" The rabbit laughed at him, and the wolf paused, settling to look at her._

_"And what would you suggest?"_

_"Let me go and find me again in spring when I'm fat and slow!" She declared, putting on a brave face. But the wolf laughed, because he knew what she was doing._

_"No- you were neither fat nor slow when our game started and you will not be this spring either. I won't let you go, but I will let you live for awhile." He decided, noting the way that the rabbit's eyes widened. He picked the rabbit up by the neck, as gingerly as he would a pup, and began the long journey home._

_The rabbit was afraid, but didn't try to run again, even when the wolf brought her back to the pack and presented her to his brothers._

_"She's thin." Muttered the youngest, dark haired and marred._

_"She won't be forever." Returned the wolf._

_"And if she tries to escape?"_

_"She can't run with 2 feet."_

_The rabbit didn't try to test his patience._

* * *

 

_For that winter, the rabbit remained in their den, surrounded by wolves, shivering in the cold- too proud to join the pack at night to stay warm (and far too scared). The wolf brought her food, bark and twigs, what was left in the dark barrenness._

_The wolf was her constant guard- protecting her and preventing her from attempting escape._

_One night the rabbit struck up enough courage to talk to the wolf._

_"What do you hope to prove by delaying my death?" The rabbit asked him, ears twitching._

_"That you cannot run from your destiny."_

_"But is it my destiny to be eaten by you?"_

_"It is your destiny to feed the pack."_

_"Will it be worth the wait?"_

_The wolf thought about it._

_"I don't know."_

_And that was the end of the first talk. It was enough for now._

* * *

 

_The next time was during a snowstorm when she was forced to swallow her pride and curl close to him or risk freezing to death._

_"You chased me for so long."_

_"I did."_

_"But now you need to eat more than what I was worth, and I am too thin."_

_"That's beside the point."_

_"Then what was the point?"_

_"That it is no use to fight an unwinnable fight."_

_"If a wolf from another territory that was younger than you, stronger than you, and more dangerous than you decided that he wanted to challenge you would you fight him? When fighting him meant certain death?"_

_The wolf said nothing, and so the rabbit drifted to sleep._

* * *

 

_One morning the wolf made a face at her.  
_

_"What is it?"_

_Outside the snow had finally stopped and the weather was steady._

_"You smell like pack."_

_The rabbit flinched._

* * *

_The rabbit began to notice things about the fearsome wolf. How he made sure that the young got enough to eat, at the cost of himself, how he worked the hardest, how he did everything possible to keep his pack safe._

_While wolves were the enemy, she could admire that loyalty in him. She could even respect that desire to see things through to the end, if only her life wasn't on the line._

_She was running out of time._

* * *

_"What if I don't want to die?"_

_The words were whispered in the dark when it was just the two of them again. The wolf's eyes were sad and solemn when he looked at the rabbit._

_"What place do you have here?"_

_"I can tell you where to find prey."_

_And then the wolf was listening._

* * *

_(Because life is about adapting. And if you cannot adapt you will die. The rabbit couldn't run and so she struck a devil's bargain)_

_The rabbit knew where the dens were, knew how to creep around hunters, the best times to avoid humans; the wolves, more isolated, used that knowledge. In spring the pack ate well, and the rabbit got to live._

_And for a time that was her purpose._

_But the wolf found himself with her more and more often, keeping an eye on her. She wasn't pack, not really, and the pack might decide to turn on their source of information. She needed someone to watch over her while she ate after all, or else they ran the risk of her trying to run. And that just wasn't acceptable._

_All the same, a companionship sprung up between them, and the wolf found himself comfortable with the rabbit._

_They talked about the pack, about food, about her warren, about her friends who had helped her keep away. They didn't discuss her leaving._

_One evening though a small band of coyotes happened upon them._

_The wolf realized that the rabbit was no longer so unappetizingly thin._

_"We'll be taking the rabbit," one of the coyotes, a female, declared, sizing him up. A larger female flanked her, ready for the command._

_"The rabbit is mine." The wolf snapped, lips drawn back._

_The coyote seemed to smile, and then they were on him. The wolf fought, biting and snarling, but it was 5 on 1 and he was no spring chicken. From the corner of his eye, the wolf saw the rabbit run off- he saw it but could do nothing about it without risking getting his throat torn out._

_The fight was ugly and close, but the wolf knew he wasn't going to win. And then there was a howl and more of his pack burst into view, the rabbit leading the charge, and suddenly the fight was so much easier._

* * *

  _The wolf is hurt but recovering and the rabbit doesn't leave his side through it._

_"You could have run." He pointed out._

_"You could have gone ahead and eaten me." The rabbit returned._

_The wolf didn't say anything else, letting the rabbit burrow against him._

* * *

"Did they lived happily ever after?" A small voice asked, thick with sleep. Rook smiled and ran her fingers through her daughter's copper curls.

"Mmhm, they lived happily ever after." She promised, leaning forward to press a gentle kiss to Abigail's head. "Good night, Abby." She turned off the lamp at her daughter's bedside and began to creep out.

The house was still and quiet as Rook made her way down the hall. 

"A wolf and a rabbit, huh?" The sound of her husband's amusement drifted down the hall from where he leaned. Of course he was awake, she realized with a sting of guilt. He waited for her.

"She wanted a story."

"Oh, I'm sure. And you just pulled that out of your bag of tricks?" She scowled at the weak pun.

"She likes rabbits. And your judges." They should probably be more concerned about their daughter's ease with the beasts, but that was a concern for the morning.

"You watered it down." The mocking, teasing light was gone, but he wasn't irritated. Rook sighed and wrapped her arms around him.

"I'll tell her all of it when she's older. She's still 4 years old." There was a twitch, brief, easily missed and he relaxed, resting his hands on her shoulders. 

"Here's hoping they stay happy." He quipped, making her grin.

"Of course they stay happy, she loves him."

**Author's Note:**

> This is a FarCry5BirthdayBash exchange fic for the incredibly talented Seedsplease over on tumblr. Seriously, check them out, they are the absolute shit. 
> 
> Rook is hers, Jacob is Ubisoft but Abigail is mine (I suck with bible names but Abigail translates into "my father rejoices" and I thought "cool", so here we are).


End file.
